Well good evening everyone and welcome to my forty fourth episode. Tonight I want to read and examine Isaiah chapters four and five. I decided to combine chapters four and five because four is pretty short. As we go through this together, I’d like you to keep the following three questions in your mind:
- How can women respond to male leadership without compromising their own freedom?
- How can we encourage excellence without losing birthright value?
- When a nation is considered too powerful to fail, what are some reasons it might collapse?
Now I’m going to read both chapters four and chapter five in their entirety. Please enjoy.
Isaiah 4
In that day so few men will be left that seven women will fight for each man, saying, “Let us all marry you! We will provide our own food and clothing. Only let us take your name so we won’t be mocked as old maids.”
A Promise of Restoration
2 But in that day, the branch[a] of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious; the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of all who survive in Israel. 3 All who remain in Zion will be a holy people—those who survive the destruction of Jerusalem and are recorded among the living. 4 The Lord will wash the filth from beautiful Zion[b] and cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains with the hot breath of fiery judgment. 5 Then the Lord will provide shade for Mount Zion and all who assemble there. He will provide a canopy of cloud during the day and smoke and flaming fire at night, covering the glorious land. 6 It will be a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain.
Isaiah 5
A Song about the Lord’s Vineyard
Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. 2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.
3 Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?
5 Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. 6 I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.
7 The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.
Judah’s Guilt and Judgment
8 What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land. 9 But I have heard the Lord of Heaven’s Armies swear a solemn oath: “Many houses will stand deserted; even beautiful mansions will be empty. 10 Ten acres[a] of vineyard will not produce even six gallons[b] of wine. Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket[c] of grain.”
11 What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. 12 They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—but they never think about the Lord or notice what he is doing. 13 So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst. 14 The grave[d] is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up. 15 Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation. 16 But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness. 17 In that day lambs will find good pastures, and fattened sheep and young goats[e] will feed among the ruins.
18 What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! 19 They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.”
20 What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. 21 What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. 22 What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. 23 They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.
24 Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 That is why the Lord’s anger burns against his people, and why he has raised his fist to crush them. The mountains tremble, and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage. But even then the Lord’s anger is not satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike!
26 He will send a signal to distant nations far away and whistle to those at the ends of the earth. They will come racing toward Jerusalem. 27 They will not get tired or stumble. They will not stop for rest or sleep. Not a belt will be loose, not a sandal strap broken. 28 Their arrows will be sharp and their bows ready for battle. Sparks will fly from their horses’ hooves, and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind. 29 They will roar like lions, like the strongest of lions. Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off, and no one will be there to rescue them. 30 They will roar over their victims on that day of destruction like the roaring of the sea. If someone looks across the land, only darkness and distress will be seen; even the light will be darkened by clouds.
So let’s begin with chapter four, verse one. This verse is actually an extension of verse six in chapter three, which reads:
In those days a man will say to his brother, “Since you have a coat, you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of ruins!”
We’re being shown a picture of a society with a void in male leadership. Male leaders were so few that the mating profile in this culture was seven women to one man. I want to tell you a little bit about how female sexual selection works. With primates, the female will mate with any male who can prove victorious in a dominance dispute. There’s no discrimination on her part – it’s all about whichever male wins. So it can be said that the males choose among themselves (via dominance disputes) which one of them has the best reproductive fitness. With human females, this process is reversed. Human females are the sexual selectors, and their attraction is driven by competence – not dominance. Let me unpack this. A dominant male primate will win the female whether he’s competent or not. He just has to be the strongest. But if a dominant male primate is tyrannical in his disposition, then two other males three quarters his size and strength will ambush him and tear him to pieces. If a dominant male primate is not tyrannical in his disposition, this ambush won’t happen. So if a dominant male primate is both strong and competent, then he will make a successful leader.
When you think about competence, it’s important to define it as behavior patterns that will make your life good for you, your family, and your community. Your life and their lives must be optimized for well being today, tomorrow, next week, next year, five years from now, and beyond into the future. The behavior pattern that promotes these goals is competence. As a human male, the higher your competence, the stronger your reproductive fitness. In the biblical worldview, competence is equivalent to Christ-likeness. You can tell that the men Isaiah is mentioning in verse one are not at all competent because the women are offering to provide for themselves so long as they are able to marry the man. As mediocre as these men were, they were still more competent than the majority of men in Israel at this time. The nation’s capacity for male leadership was essentially destroyed. With the loss of male leadership came the collapse of the nation.
Now you might be thinking, why do we even need male leadership? There’s some nuance to this answer. It’s true that many women are just better than men at solving particular problems and so they should assume leadership when doing so. But here’s the caveat: a male must be able to surrender his leadership to a female while maintaining his self-sacrificial love for her and while she maintains respect for him. It’s not an accident that God gave two different commands to men and women regarding marriage. Let’s read them in Ephesians 5:22-33:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the LORD. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Now let’s cross examine those verses with what we find in Genesis 3:16. This is God telling Adam and Eve the way it shall be now that they have sinned and brought about the fallen nature of reality:
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
So we’re seeing an environment where women will desire leadership. God is saying that men shall rule over women. What does he mean by this? These verses are describing the process of how men and women should relate and the potential pit falls in that relationship. The man is supposed to love his wife as Christ loves the church. This means the man is supposed to give himself up for her in self-sacrificial love. This is usually where Satan sneaks in and screws things up. Self-sacrificial love can easily be perceived as delegation of leadership, thus giving a man the appearance of incompetence. The appearance of incompetence in the man causes a loss of respect from the woman. When a woman no longer respects her man, his sense of self-worth will erode, along with his ability to provide self-sacrificial love. This weakness in human intimacy is why God had to give explicit commandments. To resist Satan’s deception in this matter, the husband must provide self-sacrificial love to his wife because of his love for God and his desire to obey him. The wife must maintain respect for her husband because of her love for God and her desire to obey him. When both partners are obeying God’s commands, the relationship launches into an upward spiral. In this upward spiral, the self-sacrificial love given by the husband brings freedom to the wife under his leadership. The respect from the wife brings value to the husband, giving him the self-worth necessary for sustained self-sacrificial love.
Our first question was: How can women respond to male leadership without compromising their own freedom?
The answer is that men must be Christlike in their approach to their wives, and wives must remember to encourage the men who are Christlike towards them. Remember, this behavior from both man and woman goes against the grain of our fallen nature – which is why God had to command it explicitly. As couples, we can only achieve this upward spiral by loving God and keeping his commandments.
Now let’s look at verses two through four. The branch of the LORD refers to Jesus. During the distress predicted by Isaiah, some people will be protected by God’s grace. They will be set apart to serve God when the Messiah rules the earth. What will make these people stand out is their holiness, not their wealth or prestige. The faithful will follow Jesus during His reign because they will have a sincere desire to obey His moral standards and they will have a wholehearted devotion to Him. The branch of the LORD is also mentioned in the book of Jeremiah and the book of Zechariah.
Jeremiah 23:5-6:
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
Zechariah 6:12-13:
And say to him, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.'”
So let’s move on to chapter five, beginning with verses one through seven. This is called the song of the vineyard. The lesson of the song of the vineyard shows that God’s chosen nation was to bear fruit – to carry out his work, to uphold justice. It did bear fruit, but the fruit was bad. We hear Jesus describe what he means by fruit in Matthew 7:15-20:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Moving on to verses eight through twenty five in Isaiah. Notice 6 sins that God condemns in these verses: 1.) exploiting others 2.) drunkenness 3.) taking pride in sin 4.) confusing moral standards 5.) being conceited 6.) perverting justice. Because of these sins, God punished Israel with destruction by Assyria.
Also, in verses eleven through thirteen we see that these people spent many hours drinking and partying, but Isaiah predicted that eventually many would die of hunger and thirst. Our pleasures – if they do not have God’s blessing – have the capacity to destroy us. Leaving God out of our lives allows sin to come in. Pursuing our own pleasure while ignoring or exploiting others leaves us feeling empty and under God’s anger. God wants us to enjoy life but to avoid activities that could lead us away from Him. We’re given some instruction on this in 1 Timothy 6:17-19:
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
In Isaiah, see in verse 13 how even the great and honored (these would be famous celebrity types) wouldn’t be saved from starvation. I think this is a consequence of the war on competent male leadership bringing down the edifice of civilization.
So let’s take a look at our second question: How can we encourage excellence without losing birthright value? We know that every human being is made in the image of God. We know that God’s love for us does not depend on our performance. So how can we encourage people to do better when they know that God loves them unconditionally? I think the answer is to establish the link between responsibility and meaning. Adopting maximum responsibility for Christlike behavior is the path to a meaningful life. I think Jesus was making reference to this when he said of himself: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. Salvation is not dependent on your good works. To be saved, you need only place your faith in Jesus. However, good works is the solution to a meaningful and purposeful life. It’s certainly possible to get stuck in a pit your entire natural life by evading this call to responsibility.
Moving on to verses eighteen and nineteen. Some people drag their sins around with them. Some do so arrogantly, but for others, their sins have become a burden that wears them out. You can let go of the burden of sin by turning to the one who promises to take them away and replace them with a purpose for living that is a joy to fulfill. Jesus elaborates on this in Matthew 11:28-30:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
See verse twenty. When people see no distinction between good and evil, destruction soon follows. It is easy for people to say, “No one can decide for anyone else what is really right or wrong.” They may think getting drunk can’t hurt them, extramarital sex isn’t really wrong, or money doesn’t control them. But when they make excuses for their actions, they break down the distinction between right and wrong. If people do not take God’s Word, the Bible, as their standard, soon all moral choices become fuzzy. Without God, they are headed for a breakdown and much suffering.
And more of this in verse twenty four. The people suffered because they rejected God’s law. So many people today search for meaning in life while spurning God’s Word. We can avoid the error of Israel and Judah by making not only reading the Bible, but also understanding and obeying it, a high priority in our lives.
Wrapping up chapter five with verses twenty six through thirty. This passage describes what God would do if the people disobeyed him (Deuteronomy 28). Assyria began to torment Israel during the reign of Ahaz (735 – 715 BC). This powerful aggressor destroyed the northern kingdom in 722 BC and scattered the people throughout its own empire. Sin has consequences. Although this judgment was not immediate, eventually Israel was punished.
This brings us to our third and final question: When a nation is considered too powerful to fail, what are some reasons it might collapse?
The first point I would make is that It didn’t happen right away with Israel. Often we picture a climactic fall of a nation that occurs overnight. It took 20 years of harassment and attacks with Israel. Also, a nation weakens as it declines. Today, we have to face asymmetrical warfare, internal division, terror, and outside forces pushing the limits of our institutions.
In the 1970’s the organizational theorists Chris Agyris and Donald Schon tried to categorize organizations in one of two ways:
A model one organization is where each person or group attempts to define the goals of the organization and works to have others support them. Each person or group tries to maximize his or her winning and minimize his or her losing. And each person or group tries to prevent anyone else from generating or expressing negative feelings. The totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century were model one organizations.
A model two organization is where leadership seeks out valid and useful information. They provide free and informed choice to everyone. And they encourage internal commitment through the adoption of maximum responsibility by everyone involved. Leadership monitors the results and progress of the committed and rewards competence, while correcting incompetence. The western world, especially the United States, was founded on model two organizational structure. It would be wise for the nations of the west to preserve this model two structure because all of the major organizations from the twentieth century who fit the model one structure no longer exist.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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